Need for speed (cameras?)

When it comes to the safety of Oak Ridge High School students crossing the Oak Ridge Turnpike all options are on the table, including the possible return of traffic cameras in front of the school.

Comment

By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Posted Jun. 19, 2014 at 6:10 PM

By Russel Langley/The Oak Ridger

Posted Jun. 19, 2014 at 6:10 PM

OAK RIDGE

When it comes to the safety of Oak Ridge High School students crossing the Oak Ridge Turnpike all options are on the table, including the possible return of traffic cameras in front of the school.

On Tuesday night, the Oak Ridge Traffic Safety and Advisory Board (TSAB) considered the options to improve pedestrian safety at that location.

Also on Tuesday, The Oak Ridger reported on data generated by Redflex, the company that formerly operated the traffic cameras in Oak Ridge. That data showed a significant increase in speeding in the 21 days after their contract expired on April 21. Their contract was allowed to expire after the Oak Ridge City Council voted not to renew it in March. Included in the news story was an analysis of the data by Oak Ridger Dale Gedcke who concluded the cameras were effective at slowing traffic, but not effective at accident prevention.

In response to that article, City Manager Mark Watson sent an email to The Oak Ridger stating that according to one University of Tennessee professor, Gedcke conclusions about Oak Ridge were incorrect.

“Although Dale used proper methodology for statistics, his data base comparative was flawed. I verified this with Professor David Houston, Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, who has done national statistical studies on traffic fatalities and traffic injuries. Upon review with him, the data used by Gedcke was not large enough nor comparative enough to lead to the conclusions he professed about Oak Ridge,” Watson wrote.

TSAB Chairman William Polfus reviewed the Redflex report for the board members at the TSAB meeting Tuesday night, but chose to focus on that section of the report dealing with school zones. On that page of the report, the data shows a 231 percent increase in speeding incidents since the cameras were disabled on April 21. It is important to note that the majority of those incidents occurred after May 7 when bags were placed over the cameras.

“Once there was a visual for drivers that the cameras had been disabled, the speed increased dramatically by up to 231 percent,” the report said.

Lee Buckles of Redflex wrote the report and was at the TSAB meeting. The report indicates that the highest speeder detected on the Oak Ridge Turnpike after the cameras were disabled were two vehicles traveling at 89 miles per hour. Buckles said there was no way to determine the circumstances of those speeding incidents. He said that was not the highest speed ever recorded by the cameras in Oak Ridge — that honor goes to one that was captured doing 98 miles per hour.

“They could have been emergency vehicles responding to an emergency,” Buckles said. “Without the cameras we just don’t know.”

The board members then discussed several options for improving pedestrian safety at the high school as directed by City Council. The options are:

Page 2 of 3 - • Installing a full traffic light;

• Installing a hybrid signal known as a “HAWK,” that stops cars when activated by a pedestrian;

• A flashing beacon similar to the one on Emory Valley Road at the Emory Valley Center;

• Doing nothing;

• Re-engaging the traffic cameras;

• And, ticketing jaywalkers.

An option brought up by Council member Anne Garcia Garland was to eradicate the current crosswalk and require students to walk to Tulane Avenue or Robertsville Road in order to cross the Turnpike. Buckles said that another option was a crosswalk camera that activates when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk, photographs anyone who does not stop, and sends a citation to the offending vehicle’s registered owner.

Garcia Garland spoke up about teaching responsibility to children by having all the options to allow them to cross between the intersections of Tulane Avenue and Robertsville Road. She said that “we are teaching kids it is OK to ignore the rules of the community.” She asked the board members if that was the message they wanted to send to the future leaders.

The board members cut their options list down to three options: a hybrid signal, a flashing beacon, or returning the speed cameras. Buckles told board members that there was zero cost to the city associated with returning the cameras whether that be under contract with Redflex or another company.

However, as previously reported by The Oak Ridger, a new traffic camera contract now requires a traffic study to be paid for by the city.

Council responds

When the Redflex report on the traffic patterns after the cameras was released, The Oak Ridger emailed the entire City Council for their responses to that report. Mayor Tom Beehan, Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller, and Garcia Garland responded in time to be included in Tuesday’s article. Beehan and Miller said that the data reinforced their belief that the cameras were necessary. Garcia Garland said that the report showed an average increase in speed of only 1.4 miles per hour.

In a later email, Council member David Mosby said that the data released by Redflex did not change his mind in voting against renewing the Redflex contract.

“The statistical data presented by the company (Redflex) may or may not be significant. That is why traffic studies must be developed to truly understand the real implications of change. As I have said all along, the whole red-light camera plan was flawed from (the) beginning because no traffic study was performed,” Mosby wrote.

In a phone interview on Wednesday, Council member Chuck Hope expressed similar desires for traffic studies. Hope said it was unfair of the city and Redflex to conduct their 21 day before and after survey without the benefit of a “true traffic study.” However, he said he was not surprised that speed increased after the cameras were disabled and noted that he has not seen a lot of patrol activity in those areas since the cameras were disabled.

Page 3 of 3 - Hope also said that Redflex was sending the wrong message by covering up the cameras and not removing them. It gives the message that the cameras will return, he said.

“The City Council made a decision and the majority voted,” Hope said. “Remove the cameras, don’t just put a canvas bag on them.”

Hope said that he would not consider the return of the cameras without a full traffic study at all Oak Ridge schools.

Council member Trina Baughn, who had been out of town, replied to The Oak Ridger’s email on Wednesday afternoon. In her email she remarked about recent legal troubles encountered by Redflex and its operation of the cameras beyond the contract expiration date at the request of city officials.

“Council cannot consider this new “data” to be credible since it was provided by a company that is the subject of multiple federal investigations which have already revealed serious ethics violations (not the least of which is bribery) and have resulted in indictments against various municipal officials. I am very disappointed that Mr. Watson defied an explicit, binding directive of council by allowing Redflex to operate beyond the end of their contract,” Baughn wrote.

The TSAB will research their options for pedestrian safety at the high school and vote at its July meeting on a recommendation to send to City Council.